I've decided to do my final work at school with a Lego Mindstorms kit. I've thought about using the NXT Touch Panel but I'm not sure if it is suitable for my idea. I want to write something on the touch panel (some letters or just some lines) and then my robot should write the stuff from the touch panel on a sheet of paper with a mounted pencil.

Do you think this project is realizable?

Thanks in advance,

ckbrah

Edit: It's the Touch Panel found on mindsensors.com

Thu Apr 19, 2012 5:08 pm

magicode

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Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:19 pmPosts: 496

Re: NXT Touch Panel Project Realisation Help

I don't know what kind of resolution you will get, since I haven't worked with the touch panel, but it's certainly possible to do what you want to. It won't be very simple though, what is your level of programming ability?

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Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:07 pm

ckbrah

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Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2012 4:49 pmPosts: 5

Re: NXT Touch Panel Project Realisation Help

I know the basics of programming but I'm not very strong at it. I've got half a year time for this project and I could ask my IT teacher for help. If it's probably too difficult for me, what are your thoughts about a robot which just simply writes letters. As far as I know you can use the Touch Panel like a keyboard. So I could type something on the Touch Panel and my robot would write it down.

ckbrah

PS. I apologize if I'm hard to understand. I'm foreign.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:24 pm

DiMastero

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Joined: Wed Jun 30, 2010 7:15 amPosts: 181

Re: NXT Touch Panel Project Realisation Help

With writing, do you mean making a robot move the way a hand would move and write letters that way, or more having it print or even plot it?

Here are examples of all three; Which kind of project were you looking into doing?

I've thought about doing this the Hand-like drawing way. It seems the least complicated way for me to do it. Or do you think any of the other two possibilities you showed me, are easier?

ckbrah

Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:36 pm

magicode

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Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:19 pmPosts: 496

Re: NXT Touch Panel Project Realisation Help

DiMastero, is your robot really a plotter? IT looks more like a dot-printer to me. The first robot you linked to looks more like a plotter.

ckbrah wrote:

Thanks for the quick answer,

Wow your robot looks awesome.

I've thought about doing this the Hand-like drawing way. It seems the least complicated way for me to do it. Or do you think any of the other two possibilities you showed me, are easier?

ckbrah

The hand drawing way will actually be the hardest to program, but will probably give better quality images for the application that you describe. The dot printing method will be a lot easier, but it will take a long time, and probably won't deliver as good of a quality picture.

EDIT: If you just want to print pre-programmed letters (no hand-drawings, or new run time images), then the programming won't be as complicated for the plotter.

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Last edited by magicode on Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:50 pm

ckbrah

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Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2012 4:49 pmPosts: 5

Re: NXT Touch Panel Project Realisation Help

With a long time do you mean the time the machine needs to finish the picture right?

ckbrah

Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:54 pm

magicode

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Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:19 pmPosts: 496

Re: NXT Touch Panel Project Realisation Help

ckbrah wrote:

With a long time do you mean the time the machine needs to finish the picture right?

ckbrah

Yes, I meant the time the machine needs to run to finish the picture.

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Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:55 pm

DiMastero

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Joined: Wed Jun 30, 2010 7:15 amPosts: 181

Re: NXT Touch Panel Project Realisation Help

ckbrah wrote:

With a long time do you mean the time the machine needs to finish the picture right?

To go into detail: the picture you saw being printed in the video took it about three hours, and the little text thing (about 20 letters I think) took it about half an hour.

Something like the second link is probably the fastest way to write actual letters, though it has also been used to draw more complex things:

In the video, it simply says the program is "drawing [his] logo," so I don't know if he just programmed the movements one by one, or if he wrote a program to convert the image to something the NXT can use.

And I agree that the first option is actually the hardest, but, if you have time, it is probably the one that will look the "coolest"

PS: yes, I think that's the proper way to call it. By lack of knowledge, I just called it "printer" before, until someone pointed out that it was a plotter, so I went with that. So thanks

I don't know what kind of resolution you will get, since I haven't worked with the touch panel, but it's certainly possible to do what you want to. It won't be very simple though, what is your level of programming ability?

The resolution is pretty much the same as the screen resolution (64x100), unless you start using the raw data from the sensor, which I wouldn't recommend.

So basically a robot on two wheels which carries a pencil between the two wheels. (So if it the robot spins the pencil won't change the position). The plotter idea looks really cool but it seems to me that it has been already done so many times. :/

I will probably try to program a num pad (similar to one of a cellphone) on the Touch Panel so I can type/touch the text in which I want the robot to write.

Does this sound like a quite possible project for a 11th/12th grade student who has got nearly half a year time?

ckbrah

Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:25 pm

magicode

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Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:19 pmPosts: 496

Re: NXT Touch Panel Project Realisation Help

I think getting consistent curves out of that type of design will be difficult. Letters made of straight lines should look fine though.

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